Grant v. Monsanto Co.

151 F.R.D. 285, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15115, 1993 WL 429803
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. West Virginia
DecidedSeptember 23, 1993
DocketCiv. A. No. 2:92-0388
StatusPublished

This text of 151 F.R.D. 285 (Grant v. Monsanto Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grant v. Monsanto Co., 151 F.R.D. 285, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15115, 1993 WL 429803 (S.D.W. Va. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

TAYLOR, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on plaintiffs’ motion seeking an order requiring [286]*286defendant to produce documents identifying persons participating in the PAB (para-ami-nobiphenyl) Plan, as well as documents “showing the criterion which were used in identification of individuals who were candidates for participation in the PAB program.” The issues raised have been the subject of a hearing before the Court and have been briefed by the parties. Nothing further remaining, the matter is ripe for decision.

Harold Grant filed this action1 against Monsanto Company (hereinafter “Monsanto”) asserting that he developed bladder cancer in March of 1990 as a consequence of his exposure to para-aminobiphenyl or “PAB” during the years he worked around the chemical at Monsanto’s Nitro, West Virginia plant.2 In the complaint, Mr. Grant has alleged that during the course of his employment he was exposed to the hazards of PAB, that Monsanto had a subjective realization of the dangers of PAB at least by October of 1953 and that the company acted with deliberate intent in continuing to expose him to PAB in the work place “in violation of contemporary, commonly accepted and well known safety standards applicable to the use of and exposure to, known, potent bladder carcinogens.” Mr. Grant asserts that Monsanto’s conduct, as alleged, directly and proximately resulted in the development of his bladder cancer in March of 1990.

As described in defendant’s supplemental memorandum filed in opposition to plaintiffs’ motion to compel,3 PAB was a chemical used in the production of a rubber additive, Ajone-C, at defendant’s Nitro plant. In the early 1950’s, Monsanto’s medical director, Dr. R. Emmet Kelly, “first suspected a possible link between PAB and the development of bladder tumors” and immediately thereafter “Monsanto voluntarily started the ‘PAB Program’....” Under this program, “past and current employees who had worked with PAB were contacted and informed that PAB was suspected to be a bladder carcinogen ... and were medically examined by cystoscope ... or by biannual urine cytology (pap test) when that procedure became available....” The monitoring program has continued to the present day and is available to “any Monsanto employee who worked at the Nitro plant in Building 34 or who otherwise thought he was possibly exposed to PAB and wanted to participate in the PAB Program....” The use of PAB in the Ajone-C process at Nitro “stopped on or before July 1, 1955,” and, presumably, only employees who worked on or prior to that date participated in the program. In any event, it is identifying information with respect to these program participants which plaintiffs seek by their request for production and motion to compel. Defendant raises various objections to production, arguing, as an initial matter, that the “identification is irrelevant to the viable legal issues in this case.”

As Judge Copenhaver pointed out in his March 25, 1993 Memorandum Order denying defendant’s motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, “plaintiffs are attempts ing to recover ... under a statutory exception to the immunity from suit provisions of West Virginia’s Worker’s Compensation laws which lifts the immunity “if the employer acted with deliberate intent in bringing about the plaintiffs injuries and the plaintiff is able to prove the specific statutory requirements under W.Va.Code, § 23-4-2(c)(2).” Thus, in order to establish liability,4 plaintiffs must, inter alia, produce evidence of “a specific unsafe working condition with a strong probability of serious injury or death; [287]*287... subjective realization and appreciation of that condition by the employer; ... [and,] intentional exposure by the employer of the employee to that specific unsafe working condition subjectively realized and appreciated by the employer....” Sias v. W-P Coal Company, 185 W.Va. 569, 408 S.E.2d 321, 326 (1991). Without attempting exhaustion of the issues to which the evidence sought would be relevant, the Court notes that evidence that other employees “sustained ... serious injury or death as a result of exposure,” Yeater v. Allied Chemical Company, 755 F.Supp. 1330, 1338 (N.D.W.Va.1991),5 is relevant in determining whether there existed at the Nitro plant a specific unsafe working condition with a strong probability of serious injury or death. Evidence of symptoms or disease occurring in employees exposed to PAB—which the records may describe—would also be relevant to the issue of the employer’s subjective realization and appreciation of that condition. Employees participating in the PAB program are, of course, a source, possibly the best source, of information concerning effects experienced by Monsanto’s employees exposed to PAB, and documents identifying these employees would identify individuals having relevant information. Under such circumstances, the relevancy of the documents sought seems apparent.

Defendant also argues that the documents are privileged, citing, in support of its position, eases decided in jurisdictions in which a physician-patient privilege exists. In the absence of recognition of a physician-patient privilege under state law, King v. Kayak Manufacturing Corporation, 182 W.Va. 276, 387 S.E.2d 511 (1989), however, there is simply no basis for asserting immunity from discovery in this diversity action.

Finally,6 defendant objects to revealing the identity of PAB participants “based on their inherent right to privacy and interest in avoiding disclosure of personal matters,” citing decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia recognizing the existence of a right of privacy and a cause of action for invasion of that right.7 Beyond compelling sensitivity in the exercise of its discretion when considering the issue of discovery of records identifying individuals participating in a program involving their physical condition, possible risk for development of bladder cancer or treatment for bladder cancer, the Court does not find helpful cases recognizing a right under West Virginia law for invasion of privacy in the context of a requirement by employers that employees submit to polygraph tests,8 examination of a customer’s shopping bags by supermarket employees,9 and a landlord’s installation of a listening device in his tenant’s apartment.10 In the Court’s view, these acts, and similar conduct, simply cannot be equated with court ordered and supervised discovery in litigation between private parties. Nor are cases involving an attempt to obtain sensitive personal information by governmental agencies directly applicable in the context of discovery between private parties.11 To the extent that [288]*288Monsanto is asserting a constitutional right to privacy for the medical records being sought,12 the Court need only note that the existence of such a right is highly questionable,13 and that, even if a privacy right is assumed to exist for purposes of the present dispute, it is not absolute, “but rather involves a weighing of competing interests.” Sampson v. American National Red Cross, 139 F.R.D.

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Bluebook (online)
151 F.R.D. 285, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15115, 1993 WL 429803, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grant-v-monsanto-co-wvsd-1993.